Four Years Missing
by dramionedarling
Summary: Hermione wakes up from a car accident to discover she's forgotten 4 years of her life. The last thing she remembers is getting married to Ron so why is everything different? And why is Draco Malfoy sniffing around? Better than the summary. EWE.
1. Incident

**Incident**

Hermione smiled widely over at her new husband, she couldn't believe today had been the day she had married Ronald Weasley, and she was no longer Hermione Granger, it was Hermione Granger-Weasley now. The very idea excited her; it filled her stomach with a bubble of happiness she felt that nothing could pop. "He looks so happy, you know." Harry leaned over and said to her; both their eyes were on Ron. He was chatting animatedly to his mother and suddenly looked up and caught Hermione's eyes, returning her smile with his own.

"Yeah, I know." Hermione replied and Harry held out his glass to her, she clinked hers against it and they both took a sip of the champagne.

The wedding had been absolutely fantastic, she and Ron had been planning it for just over a year and Hermione was sure she hadn't turned into a bridezilla, although she was sure Ron, Harry and Ginny would probably disagree with her. But nevertheless they were here now and Hermione didn't want to toot her own trumpet but she knew she looked very beautiful in her wedding dress. Her parents were here as well as a couple of her family members from home who knew she was a witch, but they still seemed somewhat bewildered and amazed by all the floating candles and the way the food had just magically appeared on the tables. She and Ron had agreed to do it that way as it reminded all of them of Hogwarts and their time there.

"Oh Hermione!" Molly Weasley rushed over to her and threw her arms around her; Hermione laughed and hugged her new mother-in-law back. "Now, I've always thought of you as a daughter to me but it's so great to officially say you are my daughter-in-law!" The woman said happily, but her expression turned solemn for a few moments, "if only Fred were here…" She lamented.

"Mum if Fred was here, he and George would have gone out of their way to pull a prank during the ceremony and you know it." Ron said which brought a smile to Molly's eyes which were now sparkling with tears.

"Yes, yes he would have." She agreed.

The night went by quickly, too quickly for Hermione's liking as she did not want this wedding to be over, she had spent so long planning it that it would be lovely if it could just last forever. Later she found herself dancing with her father when she heard her new husband ask, "Can I cut in?"

Her father kissed her on the cheek and left, likely to go and find her mother, as Ron put his arm around her waist and held her hand, leading her rather clumsily in a waltz on the floor. She didn't mind that he was a clumsy dancer; it was just part of the package that came with Ron. "So, how does it feel to be Mrs Weasley?" He asked her and Hermione smiled as she felt a flush rise to her cheeks.

"Absolutely wonderful." Hermione replied with a wide grin and leaned up to kiss her new husband.

The end of the night came too soon and she and Ron were walking through the aisle made by all their guests, they were throwing confetti at them (the Weasley family and any wizard guests seemed very confused by this, as it was a muggle tradition).

"I don't see why we have to do this silly car thing when we could just disapparate to Venice." He said and Hermione shushed him, she had wanted to do it ever since she was a little girl, be driven in a car with 'Just Married' written on the back as they drove off together into the sunset. Finally she was getting her very own happy ending.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "We'll get driven so far and then we'll disapparate from there." She said, "It's important to me that's why."

It was as good a reason as any and they settled in the back of the limo, cuddling together and kissed fervently. The driver had put up a screen between the front and back so they couldn't be seen by him and that suited them just fine. She tangled her hands in Ron's hair before they pulled apart and breathed deeply, trying to catch their breath. "I love you Hermione." He said to her and she grinned.

"I love you too."

That was the last thing she could remember properly, there was the loud scrape of metal grating against metal, a howl of pain and a scream that sounded very much like her own before everything went black.

DMHGDMHGDMHGDMHGDMHG

Coming back to consciousness was very much like waking from a deep sleep, she felt like she was rising from deep water back to the surface to take her first gasp of air and while her lungs were crying out for that, at the same time she felt like all she wanted to do was lie down back at the bottom of the ocean, she didn't want to come up to the surface.

But inevitably, she did. The pain was unbearable, everything hurt and she was able to deduce quickly that she was in a hospital; it had to be a muggle hospital from the doctors and nurses and the IV drips, she had no idea which hospital though, or why she was even there in the first place. Before she could ask Hermione felt the darkness loom over her again and pull her down, which she easily gave into yet again, she just felt so tired.

When she came to again with no idea how much time had passed she could feel a pounding in her head, there was a beeping from a machine that was attached to her, possibly with her heart rate? Everything felt too hazy for Hermione to begin analysing her surroundings.

"Good morning there, you've been out for quite a while." One of the nurses said, there were two of them, and a doctor. It all seemed very strange.

"Could you please tell me your name miss?" The doctor asked and Hermione tried to speak but her throat was extremely sore.

"Hermione Jean Granger-Weasley." She replied and the doctor seemed satisfied with that.

"And could you tell me the year?" He asked and Hermione thought long and hard, the last thing she could remember was the wedding, and she knew the date for that was the 30th May 2003.

"2003." She said confidently. This seemed cause for concern due to the mild show of alarm in the doctors face. Hermione picked up on it but she was sure that she wasn't meant to from the way he smiled at her.

"Alright Hermione could you tell me the last thing you remember?" He asked and she nodded.

"I remember marrying Ron, I remember my wedding and then we were in the car on the way to the… airport." Well, she couldn't very well say they were on their way to disapparate could she? "And then there was a crash… I think?" She said and the doctor nodded.

"Thank you Hermione, that'll be all for now, could one of you please go and inform Mr Weasley that his wife is awake?" The doctor said and suddenly she was alone. Hermione was so confused.

However shortly after that Ron came in and seemed so relieved to see her, Hermione smiled and he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. She was surprised by the fact that he appeared older than she remembered, not by much but still, there were a few wrinkles there that hadn't been there before. She put this down to the crash being more stressful on him than she realised. "Oh Ron, it's so good to see you." She said with a smile, "How long was I out?"

He seemed surprised and laughed nervously, "You haven't called me Ron for ages…" He mused although it was said so quietly Hermione wasn't sure if she was meant to hear it. "You've been out for two days." He commented and then opened his mouth to say something before hesitating.

"What is it?" Hermione prompted.

Ron seemed nervous. "It's just, the doctor said the last thing you could remember was our wedding, is that true?"

She furrowed her brow, the last thing _to_ remember was the wedding, wasn't it? "Yes… I remember getting into the car to go and…" She lowered her voice to a whisper, "disapparate." Ron nodded before she continued, "and then there was a crash, that's what happened isn't it?"

"Hermione…" Her husband took her hand and seemed almost sad, "That was four years ago, it's 2007." He said and she gasped aloud, the weight of it sunk in and she made to sit up but her body was still slow and sluggish from the medication she had been on, and so she didn't move far.

"What?!" The brunette asked and Ron squeezed her hand. He had a lot of filling in to do.

"The doctor said it's probably just stress of the accident and your memories should come back within the next month, possibly even in the next 24 hours." He explained, it was strange hearing this coming from Ron of all people, "but in the meantime they want to take you for an MRI – whatever that is – to see what's going on."

"An MRI is a brain scan." She stated sadly, four years of her life that she just didn't remember? It practically seemed impossible. Although Hermione was sure that all that could have happened in that time was her and Ron settling into their marriage, did they have children? How could she not remember her children? "Do we have children?" She asked.

Ron shook his head, "No we don't have kids." He responded and she nodded, well, at least there wasn't that to worry about.

The next few days went by slowly, Ron couldn't stay in the hospital with her so he came back to visit her and spent his time filling her in as much as possible. Harry and Ginny came to visit her too and they all filled her in on everything she had missed.

As far as she was aware not too much had happened, she and Ron had settled into married life and everything was going as smoothly as normal, Harry and Ginny were married now and Hermione was a little sad she couldn't remember the wedding but she knew the memories would come back to her as soon as possible. She was working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement but had been given time off in order to recover, Ron explained she worked in the Improper Use of Magic Office, while he and Harry were Aurors. She was a bit confused and overwhelmed by all this new information but she knew she needed to know. In fact Hermione had even been taking notes on her own life in order to remember, Ron, Harry, and Ginny had all laughed heartily when she had confessed that.

DMHGDMHGDMHGDMHGDMHG

A week later she woke up on what was to be her last day in hospital and her eyes fell on the last person she expected to be there. Draco Malfoy. "Malfoy?! What on earth are you doing here?!" She asked loudly.

He was holding a bouquet of flowers and it seemed so strange seeing him like that. The last time she had seen Malfoy that she remembered was the day Voldemort had been defeated, she recalled seeing his retreating back with both of his parents running away like the cowards they all were. But he seemed genuinely surprised at her confusion. "What do you mean? I'm here to see you." He said and laughed lightly, "Although you're not a very easy person to track down, it took me ages to find out you were even in a muggle hospital never mind which one."

As he spoke Hermione just stared at him dumbfounded, what the hell was he doing here? "Why did you come to see me?" She asked and he seemed genuinely hurt by the comment, it was bizarre seeing emotions so open on Draco's face considering he had been so cold and emotionless back in Hogwarts.

"What do you mean? Because I care about you, I specifically came at a time I knew Ron would be at work and—"

"You _care_ about me?! Since when did this happen?" She screeched, reminding herself to keep her voice down so other patients wouldn't hear.

Finally Malfoy realised that she wasn't quite on the same page as him, "Did something happen to you?" He asked quietly, almost mournfully.

She didn't see why she had to explain to him what had happened, she hardly knew the man but since he was here and he seemed to think they were close, she felt she owed him the explanation. "I was in a car accident, I've lost my memory from the last four years, I don't remember anything after my wedding to Ron."

Malfoy's face fell, he was the epitome of crestfallen and Hermione didn't know what to do with that, she didn't know how to deal with this version of the blonde bastard, she could deal with him angry, and bullying her, but she could not work out what to do with a Draco Malfoy that looked like he might cry at any second.

"But we've been together for two years now! How can you not remember?"

The second shock of the day, her heart stopped. There was absolutely no way Hermione would have an affair, she would never cheat on Ron. No way. And with Draco Malfoy of all people?! He was deluded. "What are you talking about?!" It was only then the brunette realised he had been coming closer all the time and now was standing right beside her, she moved to the other side of her bed to get away from him as much as possible. "You must be deluded, are you under some kind of a spell? Have you been hexed? What has happened to you?" She asked, eyeing him up like he was dangerous.

"Hermione… listen to me, we have, I work with you. We didn't get along at first, we fought a lot and you were downright irritating but you have to believe me, we've been seeing each other for two years!" He said exasperatedly. Hermione merely fixed him with a stony glare.

"Look, Malfoy your being here is highly inappropriate, I think you should leave."

"You don't mean that…" He said and she nodded firmly.

"Yes. I do. Leave, I've just had an accident and I don't need you adding unnecessary stress." Hermione looked over at him and he took a step away from her bed, leaving the flowers on the bedside table he sighed.

"If you remember or… if you change your mind… I'll be… around." He said slowly, sadly, before turning and walking out the private room and heading out.

Hermione's head was reeling, she couldn't have been having an affair, why would she do that? Everything Ron had told her so far gave off the impression that they were happy and everything had been going well, why on earth would she have been cheating on him? She refused to believe it, Malfoy was just trying to stir up trouble, there was absolutely no way.

Half an hour later her husband who she had definitely never cheated on entered the room with a wide grin, he greeted her with a kiss. "How are you feeling today? Are you ready to come home?" He asked.

She smiled and nodded, "Oh yes, I can't wait."

Ron's eyes fell onto the flowers on her bedside table and he looked confused, "Who are these from?"

She shrugged as he picked them up, "I just woke up and they were there." Hermione lied.

"'Get well soon. – DM'" Ron read aloud and Hermione cringed, waiting for his outburst about Draco Malfoy sending her flowers. Surprisingly though, it didn't come. "Oh, I forgot to say. You work with Draco Malfoy in the Ministry, when you joined about three years ago so had he and they decided you two should work together and help each other find your feet, apparently it went well since you and he ended up getting along."

Her nose wrinkled, "But it's Malfoy." She said and he laughed.

"Hermione, Hogwarts was a long time ago, you told me that when I was upset at your work partner." Ron explained and Hermione felt like she had entered into some kind of a parallel universe. Nothing seemed to make sense.

A nurse came through and Hermione sat up in bed, "Are you ready to go home?" She asked and Hermione nodded, she was actually quite excited to head home.

"Oh before I forget, Ginny packed you a bunch of stuff, clothes to change in to and toiletries so you can look nice before we leave and stuff." Ron said and passed her a red leather overnight bag, she took it gratefully.

"Great." The brunette said and stepped out of the bed, Ron held out his hand for her to take to stabilise her as she was slightly wobbly on her feet but otherwise she was okay. He walked her over to the bathroom and then let her go in alone.

Hermione changed into a pair of jeans and a plain black top in order to leave, she tied her hair back and decided the first thing she did when they got home was going for a long, relaxing bath.

"You ready?" Ron asked as she emerged and she nodded, he helped her out as the nursing staff said goodbye to her and she held the bouquet of flowers Draco had brought her, she didn't feel right about having them after the things he said, but he had to be lying. She couldn't have, she would never have.

"Alright, take me home." Hermione said as they got into the car and Ron started it up, she considered asking him when he had learned how to drive but decided better of it, it must have been something she had missed in the four years of dark space she had.

* * *

**Hello there! I hope you liked the first chapter to this story. I posted this up on my old account (so if you see a fic with 2 chapters that's very similar to this, that's why), but I decided to clear everything and start again, so here I am! **

**I don't have anyone beta-ing this story but if someone wants to please step forward and I'll be happy, please review and tell me what you think! I can't wait to hear what you say. I've been having fun writing it and hope you enjoy it. **

**I tried to make this so that you could get as much out of the plot in this first chapter, I hope it wasn't too long or boring, or too rushed, please tell me what you think, should I continue? Thanks!**

**-dramionedarling**


	2. Inquisitive

**Inquisitive**

The minute they walked in the door Hermione was overwhelmed, she felt almost attacked by all the moving pictures on the walls showing her in memories that she couldn't remember. There was a lovely one of her and Ron on their wedding night and they were dancing, but all the others, she couldn't place them. Her head hurt just looking at them and she turned away; Ron didn't seem to notice as he took her bag through to the bedroom. They had driven to her parents' house where she had been bombarded with questions and mollycoddled for roughly two hours before they had finally disapparated here.

Hermione followed him through the house and was relieved to see some things hadn't changed, furniture was in the same place and her familiar books were along their shelves where she had left them four years before, she couldn't help but run a finger lightly along the spines and smile softly to herself.

Their bedroom was completely different, she entered the room and Ron was standing in the middle with a proud smile on his face, Hermione took in the larger bed, the wardrobes, the fact that there were no pictures in there at all and it all seemed very bare, very impersonal. "It's changed a bit." She commented and Ron's face fell slightly. "But it's nice!" She added quickly and looked around, she had to admit the lack of pictures felt a slight relief; her head was still recovering from looking at all the movement.

"If you like I can sleep in the spare room…" Ron offered and Hermione looked at him incredulously.

"Why on earth would you ever do that?" She asked, "The last thing I remember is our _wedding_ Ronald, which means I remember being with you. We were together for a long time before we got married." The former Gryffindor sat down on their bed and Ron slipped beside her, he put his arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "It would be strange without you beside me."

A sigh of relief came from Ron and she smiled a little, this would all be okay, it didn't mean anything that she couldn't remember the first four years of their marriage, it really didn't. Not too much could have possibly changed.

The entire first day home she spent with Ron and he explained more about their lives together, the pictures helped too. They went around the house and he would point at pictures and recount the memory, there were a few that she knew would have been wonderful for them both and Rons eyes had lit up when he told her all about the picture when they had been at a Quidditch Cup game, but he always seemed so disappointed when she would absently shake her head with no recollection, that light in his eyes would die out.

Hermione went to bed that evening wrapped up in Rons arms, they lay entwined with his arm around her shoulders and curled around her, spooning her per se. But she could not sleep, the sounds of her husband snoring gently filled her ear, the waves of his breath moving her hair back and forth but still sleep did not come to Hermione. She couldn't help but feel that something was wrong, there was something wrong with the entire situation and she needed to try and fix it. After all, she had always been the smartest of their trio, she had instincts and intuition which came in useful and something was telling her that she wasn't being told the whole story.

She moved Ron away from her and slipped out of the bed silently moving through their bedroom and closing the door behind her as she left. Ron was a heavy sleeper so she knew he wasn't going to wake up with her walking around. Out in the corridor Hermione began to look for something, anything that could tell her how she had been feeling for the last four years. "If I was going to hide something, where would I put it?" She asked to herself quietly, feeling her bare feet against the wooden floors of their corridor. Her eyes rested on the bookshelf, of course.

Fingertips danced over the covers as she pulled various books off the shelves and began to leaf through them, searching for any kind of clue but she came up blank every time. Ten books later and Hermione hadn't found anything, not even a bookmark to indicate she'd even been reading any of these books. She moved on quickly, entering the living room and looking in various cupboards.

"_Accio diary."_ The witch tried at one particularly desperate moment but to no avail, nothing appeared. Hermione sighed in frustration and walked through the house once more, she walked through the corridor again and crept past her and Rons bedroom before finding herself in the guest room, it smelled familiar, it certainly smelled lived in, as though someone had been sleeping here fairly regularly. Running her fingers over the bed and smelling it confirmed it must have been changed while she was in hospital, she could imagine Molly had been over and doing all the housework so Hermione returned to a fresh home as she certainly couldn't picture Ron doing this stuff, even with magic.

Anything that could tell her how _she_ had been feeling for the last four years would be helpful, but it seemed like it just wasn't going to happen, Hermione didn't feel terribly great hearing her life coming from other people, how could she just settle back into a life she couldn't even remember? She began to open drawers and leaf through papers which all appeared to be work related, searching through clothes and linen but still nothing came up.

There was something almost fishy about it, Hermione had kept a filing cabinet in the guest room with up to date everything, but anything from the last four years was gone, she couldn't help but feel someone had taken them. But who? Ron was the most likely answer but Hermione couldn't fathom why he would do such a thing.

She returned to bed that night thoroughly confused and hardly slept a wink.

The next day she woke early with Ron getting out of bed and going for a shower, unfortunately he couldn't take any more time off work apparently, although Hermione wondered if it was really true considering Harry was head of the department. She voiced her thoughts, "Harry's head of the department, surely you could have more time off?" She asked as Ron came out the shower, hugging her knees in the blankets. He performed a quick drying charm and shook his head.

"Sadly not, come from above." He explained shortly and she nodded. "But Ginny will be round later, will you be okay on your own until then?" He asked and she gave him a reassuring smile.

"Of course." She replied as he bent down and gave her a brief kiss. As he leaned closer Hermione took a deep breath and was suddenly hit with that familiar smell, it was the same as the guest room. The guest room smelled of Ron, he had been sleeping in there. But why? Had they been going through a rough patch? A flurry of questions suddenly entered her mind and she struggled to concentrate as he said his parting words to her before leaving for work.

After he was gone Hermione was hit with curiosity, she had always been that way, it was what had led her into the restricted section, it was what had ensured she always went along with the adventures they'd had as a trio despite her reprimanding the boys for getting them into dangerous situations, she was curious. A small voice crept inside her head; '_curiousity killed the cat'._ And she began to wonder, what if whatever was wrong, whatever had caused Ron and her to sleep in separate bedrooms, what if she didn't want to know? And if – god forbid – what Draco Malfoy was saying was true, what had pushed her to him? Her mind was so full of questions and everything she found out seemed to yield no answers, it was incredibly frustrating.

But Hermione refused to believe that what Malfoy had even suggested could be true, he must have made it up, it was such an absurd idea. The two of them, together? First of all, he hated her, she hated him, they couldn't get along even if they tried! She couldn't see it. Part of her, a very small part did imagine them getting along civilly for the sake of working together but any more than that was just beyond her, she would _never_ cheat on Ron even if they were going through a rough patch. She couldn't. It had to be a lie, it was all made up.

These were the things she continued to tell herself as she moved through the house that morning, familiarising herself with the furniture, the location of knick-knacks and ornaments, in all the pictures she and Ron seemed so happy, in most of them they were laughing and joking around with each other, in all of them they were maintaining physical contact. They did not depict an unhappy married couple; they showed a couple who were madly in love.

The bell at the fireplace rang and Hermione knew it was Ginny coming through the Floo network, moments later the redhead was standing in her living room and enveloping her in a tight hug. "How are you?"

"You only saw me two days ago Ginny, I'm fine." Hermione chuckled and they moved back and sat on the couches.

Ginny appeared concerned, "No but it must be quite difficult, not remembering anything though. If you need any help…"

Hermione pursed her lips in thought, she considered telling Ginny about the sensation that something wasn't quite right but she couldn't guarantee Ginny wouldn't tell Ron – he was her brother after all. "No, everything's alright. Ron's filled me in as much as he can." She said and smiled a little, "But tell me about you and Harry, what have you been doing the last four years? I feel so terrible I can't remember."

They spent a couple of hours catching up and chatting, but again, everything felt strained, Hermione felt she wasn't getting the truth from Ginny when they referred to her life for four years, Ginny wasn't the best liar either. After she left Hermione breathed a sigh of relief at finally being alone again and began to tidy up to mess she and Ginny had made having tea when the girl was round. Hermione moved into the bedroom and opened the drawer at the top of her bedside table, there was her muggle mobile phone, a few muggle pictures of her relations, a doctor's appointment slip from two and a half years ago, and a pair of pearl earrings. She sighed, that hardly told her much.

Hermione picked up the pearl earrings and closed the drawer, she headed over to her jewellery box, it was a large wooden one with cupboards at either side for necklaces, three drawers for bracelets and earrings with a little part that opened at the top with rows for rings. She opened one of the drawers to put them in and her she couldn't help but notice the bottom of the drawer moved down when she put the earrings in. she raised an eyebrow an pulled out the entire drawer, taking out all the earrings inside and sure enough the drawer had a false bottom on it concealing about a centimetre of space.

"Oh, wow." Hermione murmured to herself and pulled it out, although what she saw astounded her, not only because of what it was but what it meant for her, for her past, for her future.

It was a picture that was blatantly a muggle photo as it didn't move, well worn and crinkled slightly in the corners, in it she looked genuinely happy, grinning wider than she was in any of the photographs around the house, and her arms were wrapped around a man who was kissing her temple. Draco Malfoy.

Fuck, he hadn't been making it up.

* * *

**Thank you so much to those of you who alerted this, favourited it and especially to the ones who reviewed! I responded to you all of course and I just want to say how grateful I am that some of you thought it was good, I always panic that people don't like what I'm writing so it's good to hear that you do. :) **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know what theories you have as to what's going on! I hope it makes sense, I know exactly where I want to go with this and it'll be finished in a couple of months certainly if I continue updating as quickly as I did just then. **

**I really hoped you liked it, let me know what you thought! Please don't forget to review even if you hated it, it's right down there ;) **

**-dramionedarling**


	3. Interruptions

**Interruptions**

The picture played on her mind for the next few days. Hermione felt like Ron, Harry, and Ginny were keeping secrets from her, she knew they were there locked away in her mind but she just had no idea where to look for them. Every single time she felt like she was getting somewhere it was as though a mental block went up and stopped her, she felt as though she was grasping at straws trying to remember and it only succeeded in stressing the poor girl further.

Finally when Ron went to work one day Hermione took it upon herself to go to the Ministry, she thought being in the place where she worked and spent most of her time normally would help and bring some of the memories back. As she walked into the building though, Hermione found herself at a loss. She had no idea where to go, was there a map somewhere? This was not very promising. She paused and tried to get her bearings, feeling incredibly frustrated with herself for having no clue where to go when she was supposed to work there. "Come on Hermione you can do this." She muttered trying to give herself a pep talk and walked over to the lift, taking a deep breath before stepping inside. Her hand hovered over the panel of numbers and she felt herself hesitate, where on earth was Magical Law Enforcement?

Someone got into the lift beside her and she heard a voice go, "Magical Law Enforcement is there." And she looked up only to come face to face with Draco Malfoy. One of the last people she wanted to see. He pressed the button and grabbed the pole above their heads and Hermione did the same.

"Thank you." She murmured before taking a slow calm breath and feeling the lift pull them backwards before going up. The silence was suffocating, she knew it was awkward and there were so many things that went unsaid, so many things she wanted to ask him, but Hermione bit her tongue and they went on in silence.

Finally Draco broke it, "I thought you weren't coming back to work for a couple of months." He commented and Hermione found herself wishing someone else would come in so she wouldn't have to be alone with the man she was supposedly having an affair with.

"I'm coming back to see if this helps jog my memory." She said coldly and felt him stiffen beside her, Hermione couldn't help but feel a little guilty for her cold tone, her mind drifted off to the picture and how happy she looked in it and felt almost wistful for that moment. "I'm not coming back to work yet." Although Hermione would be lying if she said she didn't want to go back to work, she missed it, she was so bored. But there was no sense going back when she couldn't even remember what it was she did and what she had been doing before she had the accident.

Draco nodded, "Well that makes sense." The lift shuddered to a stop and they stepped out together. Hermione didn't know what she had been expecting, she wasn't so childish and hopeful that the memories would come whizzing back and she would say _'Oh my goodness, I remember everything!' _dramatically fall to the floor and everything would return to normal, but she had hoped for at least something. She stepped out and still had no idea where her desk or office was or anything. The blonde boy beside her seemed to realise this and pointed, "We work in there." He said before adding, "Come on, I'll show you."

She never saw the panicked look from the receptionist – although Hermione couldn't even remember her name anyway – as she followed Draco to their office together. The very idea of working with Draco Malfoy was still so strange to her, this was the boy who had made her life a living hell for the first five years of Hogwarts and she found it hard to believe that she had just forgiven him for that so easily.

They walked into the office together, it was quite large actually. There were two mahogany desks facing each other, one was full of files and extremely messy while the other was neat and tidy. She assumed that was hers. Hermione sat down at her desk and looked at it, everything was foreign to her. The top of the desk was completely empty aside from a quill. She assumed it wasn't always this tidy.

"When you had your accident I took on all your work." Draco explained sitting at his desk and holding a file in his hands.

Hermione nodded, "Oh, that was nice of you." She said and a look passed across his face, he seemed almost irritated by her words.

"I am capable of that you know." He commented and Hermione looked up at him, she was feeling too exhausted to sit and have an argument with him so she merely nodded. Silence fell over them for a few minutes as she began to go through the drawers (of which there were six). The first drawer was full of pieces of paper and she clearly had a colour coded organised system, there were pink, blue and yellow tabs on certain pieces of paper. If only she had written the system down and that could have been helpful to her, as everything appeared so foreign now.

The second drawer held pens and pencils, so she clearly used some of her muggle items here, speaking of which, when she had spoken to Malfoy before he had been holding a pen. "You're using a pen." She commented and he stopped and stared at her. Hermione smiled to herself and Draco let out a nervous laugh.

"It is so much easier to use than a quill!" He said and she laughed. Well Hermione had never thought she would see Draco using something from the muggle world, maybe he had changed? She paused and scolded herself for thinking such a thing and shook her head a little. It was just a pen after all.

The third drawer was full of more files, as was the fourth and fifth, and the sixth to her dismay was completely empty. She sighed and felt a bit deflated, there were no answers here. Hermione knew she loved her work and that she would have spent most of her time in this room, but yet this could have been any persons office. There was nothing that made it her own.

Draco paused and looked at her, "I assume you didn't find what you were looking for." He said and she shook her head.

"I just feel like there are things I don't know. I feel like nobody is telling me anything, I mean, why on earth would I have an affair with you when I was so happy with Ron?" The brunette asked and Draco let out a loud laugh.

"They said you were _happy_ with him?!" He asked and she felt a pang of irritation run through her. Who did he think he was insinuating her marriage was less than perfect? "Hermione-" Draco started but they were interrupted by the door opening.

Both heads turned to see who could be coming in and Hermione smiled uneasily when she saw that it was Ron. She had a feeling he would be less than happy to see her there at work but honestly he had to understand why she had come, she needed answers. "Hermione, your secretary called and said you were here." Ron said and greeted Draco with a warm smile, much warmer than Hermione's greeting to him earlier on the lift up. "Draco."

Draco lowered his eyes, "Ron." He said and she thought both names sounded unfamiliar and strange on each of the boy's mouths, she was so used to them referring to the other by their surnames.

"You never said you were coming." Ron said and came closer, taking her hand. She smiled a little and felt him squeeze her hand comfortingly, her heart calmed down. No matter if things were supposedly not right, she did love him and whenever she felt this way Hermione found it so hard to believe she could have ever cheated on him.

"It was a spur of the moment decision." She smiled and rose to her feet, standing next to her husband. "I thought I might remember something, or something would feel familiar…" Her voice trailed off as she remembered how useless it had all been, her eyes surveying the office and trying to take everything in before they left.

"Did it help?" Ron asked.

Hermione sighed and lowered her head, shaking it slightly, "no not really." She said and felt Ron place a comforting hand on her back.

"Why don't we all just go home?" He said and then Draco looked up almost amused, "Well Hermione and I." He said and they all laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh it seemed more forced. The tension in the room seemed to dissipate slightly; or at least the tension between Ron and Draco. Hermione found herself wondering if they were really over everything from Hogwarts or if something had been going on more recently. Perhaps Ron had found out about her and Draco? She shook all such thoughts from her mind, no, things had to be perfect, they had to be. Logic was telling her not to ignore the picture and to believe the blonde when he told her what they had been doing, she knew perhaps that was what she was missing and why she was so confused. But Hermione was too proud to admit that she had cheated on Ron, there was no way she could have done it. She refused. And even if she had, perhaps this whole thing had been a sign for them to have a new start.

"Bye Draco." Hermione said as they walked out, she heard Draco say goodbye to them and they went into the lift. It was a fair bit busier than before and her secretary smiled at them as they passed.

"Hope to see you back at work soon Hermione!" She said and Hermione nodded a little, people were smiling and waving at her, wishing her well and she ended up feeling quite overwhelmed until they got into the lift.

"Who was that?" She asked Ron who seemed surprised, "the woman. Was that my secretary?"

Ron nodded, "Her name is Lily." He said, "She was a few years below us in Hogwarts, she's 20." She nodded, her head hurt with all the moving around today. Ron noticed her wince in pain "Is your head sore? Are you remembering anything? Is it all coming back to you?" He asked quickly and his hand was against her forehead.

"No, no, my head just hurts." She said and the lift stopped.

Ron frowned a little, "You probably just came back too soon." He said and she nodded, she probably shouldn't have come today he was right. They walked swiftly towards the Floo and he placed his arm around her waist, hand firmly pressed on the small of her back as he led her out and she was grateful when they stepped into the Floo and he said their address whilst throwing the powder down and within a few seconds she was home.

Hermione coughed and stepped out of the fireplace, dusting her clothes down and she turned to say something to Ron before noticing the anger laced all over his face, his cheeks and ears were bright red and he looked absolutely furious. "Ron, what—" She asked and he towered over her, Hermione actually felt intimidated by the redhead for what felt like the first time in her life.

"Hermione you will not do that again, don't go to the Ministry without me." He said sternly, it was absolutely terrifying. And then immediately his face completely changed and he was smiling softly at her, looking at her warmly with love and affection, "I was just so worried about you, you see? I was so worried." He wrapped her up in his arms and rubbed her back. Hermione was frozen in shock and couldn't even return the hug her husband was giving her. She still couldn't believe the way he had looked, his firm voice ordering her around, he had never been like that before. What had happened? And the way his emotions had changed so quickly, she was almost afraid. Hermione reminded herself she was one of the brightest witches in her age and could easily hold her own in a fight; she was not to be afraid of her husband.

"I'm just going to go and change out of my work clothes." Ron said and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek before leaving the room and leaving his wife absolutely shell-shocked.

* * *

**Hello guys, sorry it's taken me a couple of weeks to update this! I'm so excited at seeing how many of you had favourited/alerted this! I will be honest I've been slightly disappointed at the low reviews and that hasn't been much of a motivator, so maybe you could review and I'll be more motivated to write! Hint... Hint... I do reply to all reviews individually too, so we can build up a conversation... Let me know what you think, I always want to hear even if you hate it, tell me what you think is going on, what Hermione is missing and what you think will happen!**

**Okay enough of me grovelling for reviews... **

**I hope you liked this chapter and I will try to update soon!**

**-dramionedarling**


	4. Incomplete

**Incomplete**

Hermione thought she was about to suffocate. After her trip to the Ministry Ron had started working from home and ensuring she was never left alone. She spent every waking moment with him aside from going to the loo. Finally on the fourth day Ron woke her up at around ten in the morning, "Darling, I'm going out to work for a few hours today, okay?" He spoke to her as though she might break if he were to use his normal voice; it was like he was walking on eggshells around her meanwhile Hermione felt the same way about him in case she got a repeat of his behaviour from the other day. She'd never seen Ron act like that before and it had scared her.

"Oh." Hermione replied and nodded, "Alright then." She couldn't help but feel a little excited at the prospect of being left alone for a little while.

Ron seemed concerned, "Will you be alright by yourself? You won't leave?" He asked and she could see his face tighten slightly at the idea of her going out again, Hermione shook her head and he smiled, relief washing over his features. She loved his smile, and the way he could look at her like she was the only girl in the world. Hermione did love Ron, she really did. He leaned in and she brushed her lips across his gently. "I'll see you later."

Ron got up and left the room, she heard him go through the Floo and pulled herself out of bed, swinging her legs around and pushing herself to a standing position. She took a deep breath and went to go for a shower. The warm water felt so good on her skin and she relished being alone for a change, Ron was getting so overbearing. Hermione couldn't help but wonder if all of this was coming from something, perhaps Ron had found out she was having an affair and… Oh, her head hurt just thinking about it. She winced a little, feeling like there was some block in her mind.

She got out the shower and pulled a cream coloured silk dressing gown around herself, tying it tightly around her waist. The fabric felt so lovely around her skin and she smiled as she walked through the house. It was wonderful having the place to herself. She thought she heard the _pop _of an apparation outside but when all was silent for a couple of minutes Hermione shrugged it off.

There were four knocks at the door just a few seconds later as Hermione was about to go off and get changed into some actual clothes for the day. "Oh for goodness sake." The brunette muttered under her breath as she went to answer the door. "Hello?" Hermione asked as she opened the door. Harry stood at the other side awkwardly and Hermione smiled at seeing her friend.

"Thought you might appreciate if I came the muggle way and not through the fireplace." He said and she laughed lightly, opening the door wider to allow him in.

"Well I did hear you apparate in but the sentiment is there nonetheless." She said and pulled her robe around herself tighter as Harry closed the door behind him. "I'm just going to change into some clothes." She said and Harry nodded, "Make yourself at home."

She changed into some jeans and a white vest top, no sense in wearing anything more than casual when she was just going to be round the house with Harry, he had seen her in all states after all. "I just thought I would check up on you to make sure you were alright." He said and looked at her as though she might break if he spoke too loudly. "Ron was-"

"Oh Ron doesn't need to worry about me, I'm _fine_." She snapped, "Sorry I don't mean to snap but he's being a little suffocating." She said and sighed.

"He's just worried about you; he's scared you have another accident." Harry said and Hermione shrugged, she had a feeling the only reason Harry was here was to make sure she didn't leave the house for the day, but then she wasn't very sure if that was on Ron's part or Harrys. It was difficult not being able to trust her friends one hundred percent, but she couldn't when there was definitely something that they weren't telling her, something she was missing from her mind.

They sat in silence for a little while before Harry cleared his throat, "So, there's something I had been meaning to tell you before you had the accident, but it's a good thing I didn't since you wouldn't remember." Hermione chuckled at that before he continued, "Ginny's pregnant."

"Oh my god!" Hermione gasped and leaned over hugging Harry who looked extremely chuffed, "Congratulations! How far along is she? Is it a boy or girl? When is she due? How long have you known?" She asked, flooding him with questions.

"One at a time 'Mione!" He said and they both laughed, he had the largest grin on his face, Hermione was so happy for him. At the same time she felt a pang of sadness wash over her and she had no idea where it was coming from. She chose to ignore it and tried to shake the feeling off as she let go of her friend. "We found out just over two months ago, but Ginny wanted to keep it quiet for a while. She's going to start showing soon though, she and I fought over who got to tell you and Ron."

"And you won." Hermione stated, Harry nodded with a smile. "I'm so happy for you, have you thought of any names yet? Or if it'll be a girl or a boy?" She asked and Harry shrugged.

"I might like to name it after my parents depending on which gender it is but I don't know if Ginny would be up for that. We'll see." He said and Hermione nodded, Harry really did deserve to be happy, she was so pleased for him.

"Oh Harry, that is wonderful news." Hermione said, "Does Ron know?"

Harry shook his head, "I'll tell him later. I'll have to go into work and I'll see him there." He said and she nodded, it was such good news. Harry and Ginny would make great parents, she knew it.

After Harry left Hermione found tears skimming at the edges of her eyes, she told herself it was just because she was so happy that Harry and Ginny were having a baby but deep down there was a bubble of sadness in her heart so big she thought it might pop. But she couldn't work out why she was so upset, it wasn't as though Harry and Ginny having a baby should be upsetting news for her? She was happy for them, she really was. Nevertheless a couple of tears slipped down her cheeks before she was able to wipe her eyes, "Pull yourself together Hermione Gr- Weasley." She scolded herself and pulled a book down to read, reading always made her feel better anyway.

There was something inside of her that was waiting to come out, something she had locked away that she needed to discover. Hermione knew there was, she knew she would not feel this unsettled if everything were as great as everyone made out they were. But the trouble was how could she get those memories out? She doubted a pensieve would work, considering she needed to have the memories in the first place, and after looking through as many books as possible, Hermione couldn't find a spell to recover amnesia. There was one person who she was sure would tell her the truth, one person she could – perhaps – trust.

Draco Malfoy.

The brunette pulled some parchment out and a quill, she began to write a letter to the person she had supposedly had an affair with.

_To Draco, _

_This letter is by no means an admission to the accusations and implications you made regarding our friendship back when I was in the hospital. However, I would be willing to hear your side of the story (and find out a little more about these years that I'm missing) and I think you might be the answer to all of that. Can we meet one day when Ron is at work? _

_Hermione __Granger__ Weasley._

She sent the letter off with her and Rons owl and eagerly awaited the response, wondering briefly if she would even get one, Draco might have decided to hell with her and he would move on with his life. She was able to entertain the idea that perhaps something might have been there between the two of them as he knew things were not right at home, she knew. "You can't lie to yourself forever." Hermione murmured to herself and then thought she must truly be going crazy.

After about an hour, her owl returned with a letter back. She tried not to be too excited as she opened it, and of course it was from Draco.

_Hermione, _

_Thought you'd never ask. _

_DM_

That night when Ron returned from work (she had put the response from Draco in the false bottom of her drawer where the picture of the two of them was) he was over the moon about Harry and Ginnys news. "Can you believe it?! I'm going to be an uncle!" He said and picked Hermione up before spinning her around. She felt dizziness overcome her momentarily before laughing.

"I know! You'll be such a good uncle too, you're good with children." She said and Ron kissed her on the lips gently as he brought her to the ground, she smiled at her husband.

"And you'll be an aunt, can you just imagine?" He said excitedly and rushed into the kitchen to stuff his face with some food no doubt. Sure enough when he emerged there was a packet of Bertie Botts every flavour beans in his hand. He absent mindedly picked out a brown one and threw it back into his mouth before grimacing. "Eurgh! Compost!" He said and shook his head. "Always is a gamble."

"Did Harry tell you when he came into work then?" Hermione asked and Ron nodded, they walked over to the couch and armchairs in the living room and he threw himself down on the armchair.

"Yeah, he said he'd been round was everything alright? Were you okay?" Ron asked quickly and then leaned forward, checking her forehead and looking around for any signs of a bruise or injury.

"Ron!" Hermione snapped and slapped his hands away before smiling a little, "I was fine honestly. I think Harry just came round to check on me." She said and Ron seemed to calm visibly, she really did feel a bit molly-coddled. "I can survive a little on my own you know." She said and Hermione could swear she saw anger pass over Rons face as he turned away from her.

When he looked back it was with bright happy eyes, "I know that, I honestly do I just worry. How could I not? You're in a fragile state." He said and placed his hand on her knee.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Honestly Ron I feel _fine_." She said.

"You can't remember four years of your life Hermione how is that fine?!" He snapped, getting angry. His ears went bright red and she began to see the very same anger that she had seen the other day come out. "No, sorry. I'll calm down. I just worry; this can all be a fresh start for us, something new." He said and hugged her so tightly she couldn't breathe. Hermione felt a thought niggling at her yet again, if everything had been so fine then why would they need a fresh start?

xxx

The next day Hermione waited until Ron had left for work before getting herself ready, she put a little make-up on and did her hair, putting some nicer clothes on than she wore for Harry the day before and it was only after doing herself up that she stopped and realised that she had even done it. "Oh for merlins sake, why am I doing this? There's nothing between Draco and I. I just want him here for answers." She said and rolled her eyes at her own foolishness, it was almost an automatic thing.

She sent off an owl to Draco informing him that Ron was at work and precisely fifty minutes later she heard him coming through the Floo. Within seconds he was striding out into her living room and dusting off his robes. "Hermione." He said and smiled at her, glad to see her. She smiled nervously trying not to think about how odd it was for Draco Malfoy to be in her home.

"Draco." She greeted and gestured for him to sit down, "Please take a seat." He went and sat down on the couch and pulled a small vial of clear liquid out of his robes, placing it on the coffee table. "Is that veritaserum?"

"Yes." He said and raised an eyebrow, "I wanted you to be sure that you were hearing the truth from me."

Hermione shook her head, "But people skilled in occlumency can resist the potion." She said as though she were reading directly out of a textbook, "So how would I be sure?" She knew Draco was skilled in that area.

He laughed a little but more to himself and not to her, "Nothing ever gets by you Hermione. I promise I will tell the truth, plus I've never been all that good at resisting veritaserum anyway, just try it." He said and she nodded, still not fully trusting Draco yet, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to use some.

She poured him a glass of water and watched as he dripped three drops into the cool liquid, Hermione watched the ripples as each one went in before Draco picked the glass up and downed its contents. They waited in silence for a few seconds before Hermione cleared her throat and decided to begin asking him questions. "Alright, I'm not really sure where to begin." She said and looked over at him. "But I suppose I'll start with this. Were Ron and I happy before I had the accident?" She asked.

Very quickly Draco shook his head. "No, you were miserable actually. He might have been happy but you weren't. Otherwise you would've never come to me." He smiled smugly then and she rolled her eyes, "He wasn't treating you right at all."

"What do you mean? How so?"

"Well…" Draco seemed almost reluctant to answer but had to because of the potion, "He used to get angry with you a lot and try to control you, but you're bloody Hermione Granger, you can't be controlled." He laughed, "You argued a lot, well constantly actually."

"When did we start being unhappy? I mean I remember at my wedding four years ago we were perfectly happy." She said almost sadly.

Draco shrugged, "I'm not sure, everything seemed fine when you and I started working together three years ago. You were so happy then, almost bursting with it. And then one day you came in and you were really upset but you wouldn't tell me why, you never did." He said and furrowed his brow, "I never knew and it seemed to go from there, which was about two and a half years ago, we started seeing each other about two years ago." Draco explained and Hermione listened, soaking all of this in, she wondered what it could have been to upset her so much beforehand, it had to have been more than just a silly fight, but what?

She thought for a while about the next question, "And how did we start… I mean… what happened for us to…?" Hermione trailed off, unable to finish the question.

"Do you mean how did we start seeing each other on the side?" He asked and she nodded feebly, "Well at first we didn't get on at all, we were always sparring and fighting and jumping down one anothers throats, but that was how we were. Then we built up a routine where we would be civil for a while and then fight again, and then when you came in that day all upset, you'd lost your fight. It was really scary actually, and for ages you just got on with things and didn't really speak to me until one day you were crying. But you still didn't tell me what was wrong." He paused and cleared his throat. "Then one day you were really angry and we started fighting and then, we were just kissing. We had sex on the des—"

"Draco! Please!" Hermione held her hands up to her ears as though she didn't want to hear, "I don't want to hear all the dirty details!"

"You were _there_."

"Well I don't remember it." She snapped back and crossed her arms, feeling her anger flare back and Draco rolled his eyes.

"Want to?" He asked and she stared at him in absolute shock.

"Are you being serious? I'm asking you here to try and fill in my memories after I lost them and you're _flirting_ with me?!" She exclaimed and threw her hands up. "I don't know why I'm surprised."

"You really shouldn't be." Draco shook his head and smiled, "It's so nice to fight with you again."

Hermione fixed her eyes on him, "So is that all we are? Fighting and sex, fighting and sex, rinse and repeat?" She asked and he was confused at her muggle shampoo reference.

"Rinse and repe-, what?!"

"Never mind. Is it though?" She rose to her feet.

Draco did too, "No Hermione we were so much more than that. Yes it started out that way but then we began to spend time together, we loved each other Hermione. We went on dates, you took me to muggle London more times than I can count because we were less likely to be seen, on our one year anniversary I took you to Florence in Italy, we were in love. You were going to l-" Draco stopped himself and looked away from her.

"What?"

"No, I shouldn't say it."

Hermione pushed further, "No tell me. Tell me Draco I have to know."

He seemed to hesitate, battling with himself before finally taking both her hands and staring her right in the eyes, she didn't think she'd ever seen someone look so intense in all her life. "You were going to leave Ron for me, right before the accident, you were going to leave him for me."

She felt like she had been hit in the stomach, winded. Hermione fell back onto the couch and gasped, it couldn't be true, it couldn't. She opened her mouth to say something but they were interrupted with the sound of the floo.

"Oh for fucks sake." She heard Draco say and looked up at him; they both stared at each other for a moment before he apparated out and she was alone for literally a second then Ron was walking out of the fireplace, had Draco really been there for that long? It had felt like minutes.

She looked at the clock and saw Ron had been gone for two hours, she greeted him with a kiss. "Are you alright?" He asked and she nodded, feeling quite numb.

"I'm just going to lie down, I'm tired." Hermione excused herself and went to bed, curling up under the blankets and shutting the world out. She had been going to leave Ron? It was hard to believe but still, was it true? Hermione was so confused and she had no idea what to think, she didn't know what the implications could possibly be if Dracos words were true.

* * *

**So there we go! Chapter four is done! I was so pleased with the response to the last chapter, I don't know if it was because of what I said or because it's finally getting into it or not but I was so happy with all the reviews! I responded to you all individually, those of you with accounts, but if you don't have an account I can't reply. :( It was so good and it clearly motivated me to write a faster, and longer, chapter for you guys! **

**I hope you like it, I'm quite satisfied with this chapter and I think a few things came into light here, although maybe you're left with more questions. I'd love to hear them! What do you think had Hermione so upset? Merlin I'm worse than an English teacher, making you analyse my story. Still, I hope you liked it and please review! :) It'll motivate me ;) **

**Also I have a oneshot as well if you fancy giving that a go, it was a quick thing I wrote one night so it might not be particularly good but I still quite like it. **

**And I don't have anyone beta-ing this story but if someone wants to, please feel free to tell me and we'll work it out!**

**-dramionedarling**


	5. Insensitive

**Insensitive**

Hermione took some time after Draco's visit to consider what he had said, had she really been about to leave Ron when she'd had the accident? What if she had already been in the process of leaving him and this had brought her back to square one? She had no idea, and she was so confused. It was incredibly frustrating and Hermione found herself constantly running everything over in her mind, what Draco had said, the way Ron had behaved, the picture in her bedside cabinet underneath the false bottom, everything. She was puzzled and felt thrown off balance. All of this just didn't seem to make much sense.

Ron had been as sweet, kind, and caring as ever, she had really enjoyed their time together which made it even harder to believe that she had been planning to leave him. They had been enjoying their lives together. Sure, sometimes she felt a little suffocated (okay, a lot) but that was par for the course. Ron was just worried about her after the accident that was all and Hermione knew that.

xxxx

It had been a week since Draco had been over and they were having dinner, she had cooked the muggle way while he had been at work. Ron always loved coming home to the smell of food so she could tell he was in a good mood. "This looks great Hermione, what is it?" He asked before coming into the kitchen to look and she shrugged.

"Oh it's nothing really, just a roast dinner. My mother used to make them every Sunday." She commented and Ron raised an eyebrow.

"It's not Sunday though."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "I know but I was in the mood for one and I was bored, so I decided to cook for you and this seemed to be a good idea."

She moved the serving plates over to their dining table and Ron sat down, Hermione struggled with everything and considered asking him to help but something stopped her, so instead she tried to carry everything before remembering that she was a witch. Hermione put everything down and grabbed her wand "_Wingardium leviosa." _She murmured and soon the entire dinner was levitating through to the dining room, being a witch really did make everything easier. She set all the dishes down on the table and Ron began to help himself.

"Harry and Ginny are having a thing this weekend… sort of like a party where they tell everyone they're pregnant. I said we'd go." Ron said as he stuffed his face, bits of food flying out of his mouth and onto the table. Hermione wrinkled her nose in distaste as he took a big gulp of butterbeer.

"Ron, don't talk with your mouth full." She said and he nodded.

"Sorry." He apologised and there was an awkward silence for a few moments. "D'you ever think about you know, having kids yourself? Like, if we were to have kids?"

Hermione just about choked on her food, "What?!" She asked and he paused and looked at her.

"Don't look so surprised, we _are_ married, it would be the next step." He surmised and she shook her head wildly.

"No way Ron, no way. I couldn't have children when I can't even remember four years of my life. Have a bit of sensitivity!" She exclaimed, "Why on earth could you possibly think that we could ever have children until I feel more stable and can remember the last four years?"

Ron raised his voice, "Well what if you never get them back?!" He shouted, slamming his glass down at the same time so loudly that Hermione flinch. Never getting her memories back hadn't been an option she had considered.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, it's still early days—" She began but Ron interrupted her, rising to his feet.

"I think it's time to cross it now, you've been out the hospital for nearly a month and still nothing, you're supposed to go back to work in a month and you still can't remember anything! You need to face up to the fact that you will never remember those four years and we can just move on and start a family together."

Tears pricked at Hermiones eyes, threatening to fall onto her cheeks and reveal how upset she was. "How can you say that? Do you have any idea how this feels for me?"

"Do you have any idea how this feels for _me?!_" Ron all but screamed at her and Hermione had enough of this fight, she couldn't take it anymore. She got up from the table and ran through to the bedroom. "_Colloportus"_ she pointed her wand at the door and locked it, although Ron could get through easily by casting the counter spell, Hermione felt safer with having another barrier. She felt tears streak down her cheeks and wiped them away, this was so hard. How could Ron expect her to be ready to have children yet? She didn't feel ready at all, especially knowing that she had just been about to leave him before the accident. She waited for a while, trying to calm down and then eventually heard the sound of him leaving through the Floo network, she guessed he might go to speak to Harry about the conversation they just had and emerged from the bedroom.

On the table, uneaten for the most part, was the dinner she had spent the day slaving away to make. Hermione wasn't even hungry now, she put it all in the bin and cast a quick _scourgify_ on the dishes to clean them. Hermione threw herself onto the couch and sighed sadly.

It took Ron hours to come back and when he did he was obviously drunk, she could smell the firewhiskey the minute he fell out of the fireplace. She didn't say anything and watched as he grunted an acknowledgement to her presence and stumbled through to the guest room before falling asleep for the night. A few stray tears escaped onto her cheeks once more as she too made her way to bed.

She lay awake for hours before finally falling asleep and slept right through until around 9AM when Ron had already left for work. Hermione was grateful for this; she couldn't be bothered for round two. The brunette pulled herself up and ran a brush through her hair, trying to tame it as much as she could. She went through to the dining room and saw a breakfast waiting for her. It was quite romantic really, a tray with a glass vase and a single rose inside, three slices of toast, a fried egg, some sausages and bacon and a couple of hash browns with a cup of tea. A quick check showed that Ron had cast a warming charm on it to make sure it was still hot whenever she woke up. There was a note with it.

_Mione_

_I'm sorry I got so angry last night. I didn't mean to put any pressure on you. I just love you so much and would be so happy to have children with you (I am a Weasley after all), but you're right, we can wait until you recover your memories. I'll make it up to you and take you out for dinner tonight at 7PM. I love you._

_Ron_

She smiled and began to eat the breakfast he had left for her. Even though Ron was hot-headed, insensitive and lacked some social graces at the best of times, he still loved her, he still cared and that was surely the important thing, wasn't it? Hermione put down the note and was still smiling when an owl appeared at her window moments later, it had a letter and handwriting that seemed familiar but she couldn't place it. "Hello there. Where are you from, I wonder?" she asked and untied the letter from it. Happy that it had delivered its cargo, the owl swiftly flew away into the horizon. Hermione watched it go for a few moments before turning her attention back to the letter.

_Hermione, _

_I haven't heard from you since last week and wondered how you were doing? Can we meet up to talk sometime soon?_

_DM_

Of course it was Malfoy, the handwriting was the same as the last one she received. Hermione chose to ignore it and placed it in with the other items and decided to cast a quick concealment charm just so that Ron wouldn't see anything if he went looking, not that he would of course. She trusted him.

That evening Hermione had dressed up for the occasion, she had on a nice dress, she had put magical charms on her hair to make it presentable and less birds-nestlike and had put on some make up. Ron smiled when he came out of the fireplace. "Woah Hermione, you look wonderful." He said and threw his arms around her, kissing her on the lips. "Listen, I'm so sorry about last night I…"

Hermione shushed him by placing her fingers over his lips and smiled softly, "All is forgiven and forgotten, let's just go and have a nice dinner. Where are we going?" she asked.

"The Three Broomsticks." Ron said and Hermiones face visibly fell, then he began to laugh, "I'm kidding! It's a surprise, come on." He said and held her hand, they quickly apparated.

When they landed Hermione let go of Ron quickly and scolded him, "Ronald, you know I don't like to apparate in high heels!" She moaned and then looked around, they were in muggle London. They were currently standing in an alleyway as not to be seen when they had apparated in, but they were in muggle London. Now she was excited. "Oh!" She gasped and he took her hand, leading her out of the alleyway and into the busy street.

They went to a gorgeous family owned Italian restaurant and drank red wine, ate pasta and had a good time. Not once did Ron mention children or anything even of the sort. She had a great time, and soon they were walked arm-in-arm out onto the street again into the cold night. "Bit chilly." Ron said and put his jacket around Hermione, she smiled at his thoughtfulness and they rushed to find somewhere to apparate to. They went down an alleyway and quickly apparated back home. She welcomed the warmth once they were in their living room and smiled.

"Thank you so much for a lovely evening." Hermione said and hugged her husband, "It was so thoughtful of you." She told herself that _this_ was what things were meant to be like, this was how she and Ron were, a happy, cheerful, and content married couple. His anger was just a blip.

The next morning when the brunette woke up she was alone in the house; she tied her dressing gown around herself and went into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. It was then she noticed a familiar owl waiting for her at the window and she sighed. "Oh for goodness sake." She picked up the letter it had, and the owl turned and flew off as Hermione opened it.

_Hermione, _

_You didn't reply to my last letter, is everything okay?_

_I want to see you again. _

_Draco._

She ignored it, put it in with the others and closed the drawer. Hermione opted to just ignore Draco and hope that he stopped, she had her own life now and that was that.

xxxx

Saturday quickly came with no more letters from Draco. Hermione was getting ready to go to Harry and Ginnys with Ron. She was excited, but also a little apprehensive to see everyone again. She was wearing a short black dress to dress up for the occasion and Ron was looking smart in his dark jeans and a shirt. "Ready to go?" She asked him and he nodded.

"Yeah, it'll be good to see the whole family." They stepped into the fireplace and went through the Floo, moments later they were stepping out into an already crowded living room. "Oh wow, there's a lot of people here already." Ron said and they saw Harry and Ginny.

"You look amazing!" Hermione said and hugged Ginny; she was wearing a knee-length red halterneck which showed off her hair and eyes. "I love the dress."

"Thanks so much, you look good too. There's a buffet in the kitchen if you want some. I've been enjoying the salmon and cream cheese parcels." Ginny replied and Harry rolled his eyes.

"I would be happy if I never saw a salmon, ever again." It was obvious with Ginevra Potter had been craving during her pregnancy.

"Ronald and Hermione, how are you both doing? Oh Hermione you look much better than the last time I saw you." They were greeted by a bubbly Molly Weasley.

The night went very much like that, speaking to people who commented how good Hermione was looking, however this stopped around half way through when Harry began to clink his glass with a knife. All the witches and wizards looked incredibly confused, "Sorry, muggle thing. I just want to make a toast. You're probably all wondering why we gathered you here tonight." Harry said and Ginny smiled beside him. "Some already know this but for those of you that don't; we are about to welcome another life into the world. Ginny's pregnant!" There was a flurry of chatter and congratulations, Molly and the rest of the Weasleys already knew of course but some of the others there did not, people Harry worked with, friends from Hogwarts, everyone was rushing over to hug them and congratulate them.

When Hermione and Ron got home it was late and she was extremely tired. "Oh that was a fantastic night." She said with a smile, "I'm so happy for Harry and Ginny." Ron covered her mouth with a kiss so passionate it almost swept her off her feet. She was a quite surprised. They moved slowly to the bedroom, never breaking apart and slammed the door behind them. Ron unzipped the back of Hermiones dress and pushed her down onto the bed, she was a little nervous, this was the first time they were to be together sexually since the accident but she pushed all doubts aside as Ron began to kiss her neck and collarbone.

The next morning Hermione woke up curled in Rons arms and she smiled, she was so happy with him. She got up and went to go and get some tea, make her husband some breakfast in bed after the wonderful weekend they had spent together but she only got as far as the kitchen when there was a very familiar owl caught her eye. "Oh you have _got_ to be kidding me." She said and then took the letter from the owl, it flew off immediately again and she opened it. Draco, again.

_Hermione, _

_You haven't replied to my other letters. I want to see you. _

_I know the other day might have been a bit overwhelming for you but you needed to know. _

_If you still don't believe me, I have a way to absolutely prove it to you. _

_Please? I don't like to plead Hermione. _

_Draco._

"What's that?" Ron said as he came into the kitchen and Hermione jumped, she hadn't even heard him get up.

"Um…" Hermione tried to think of a lie but before she could open her mouth again Ron had snatched the letter from her fingers. She could see his eyes filling with rage as he scrunched up the letter in his hands and threw it to the ground.

"What happened the other day?" He asked, his ears turning a bright red as he fixed her with a cold glare.

She took a step backwards, almost in fear of her husband as he loomed over her. "Well we… Draco came over and tried to fill in some of my memories for me, workwise." She said, it sounded plausible enough.

But it wasn't enough for Ron, "Draco Malfoy was here in my house and you didn't tell me?!" He practically exploded. "You didn't ask my permission?!"

Hermione decided to stand her ground; she was not going to be intimidated by him. "Ronald Weasley this is _my _house as well and you will not tell me who I can and cannot have over!"

In response to this he grabbed her arms so tight she thought there would be fingerprint bruise marks, "Don't you dare speak to me like that Hermione." He said in a frighteningly cold tone, "I do not want that man to ever set foot in this house again; it's bad enough you have to see him at work. Thank god you're not doing that just now."

She stared at him, her heart racing. "Ron you're hurting me." She said and he only held on tighter.

"Do you understand Hermione?!" He yelled in her face and let her go but only to pick up the cups she had laid out for their tea and threw them at a wall, they smashed and went everywhere. She held up her hands to protect her face and tried to conceal a sob that erupted from inside of her.

There was a pause, a silence before Ron seemed to realise what he had done and suddenly he gently took his wife in his arms. "Oh Hermione, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I just… I love you so much and I am so worried about you." His voice was soothing and Hermione was in pieces, she could feel the sobs ripping through her and couldn't stop them, the last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of Ron when he had been so awful to her but she just couldn't help it, the shock of the entire situation had overwhelmed her. Her knees went weak and she fell, Ron dropped with her and they sat on the floor, him comforting her as she cried despite the fact that he had caused this.

"I'm so sorry, I just love you so much." He kept repeating until she calmed down. It took roughly half an hour but it did happen. "I just don't want anything to happen to you, I worry about you constantly and when I hear that you've been doing things and I don't know about it, it makes me wonder if you've done anything else, been in any danger and haven't told me."

"It's alright Ron." Hermione said quietly and began to get up, her husband followed her. "It's alright, I need… I need to clean up this mess." She said and began to try and delicately pick up the shards of china.

"I'll help." He said and began to quickly help her, managing to slice his hand in the process. "Dammit."

"Oh for goodness sake." Hermione rolled her eyes, of course Ron would hurt himself. She grabbed her wand, "_episkey"_ she said and the cut began to heal, once it was completely done she smiled a little and they got back to work.

For the rest of the day Hermione felt as though she was walking on eggshells with Ron and was grateful when it was time to go to bed because she could pretend to be asleep and far, far away from here.

Morning came and she waited until Ron left (after awkwardly trying to wake her and kissing her on the cheek when he did go) before she got up. She pulled her robe around her and was surprised when there was a pop from the living room. "Did you forget something?" Hermione called through the house as she went to find out why Ron was returning so soon.

But it wasn't Ron standing in her living room, it was Draco.

* * *

**Hello lovelies! See how quickly I update for you beautiful people? I worked quite hard on this chapter and I'm quite proud of it. I hope you like it too. I decided to try and bring Draco into a bit more, I figured by this point if he really was in love with Hermione and she had been going to leave Ron for Draco then he would be wanting her back. **

**Thank you so much for everyone who has put this on their favourites and alerts and an even bigger thank you to those of you that review! I do reply to every single one I get but those of you who put reviews in as guests, thank you so much it means the world to me, I can't respond to you because you're guests but I just want you to know that I love hearing them. I hope you all review this chapter, tell me what you thought, what you think is going to happen next? Just let me know everything! I can't wait to hear what you think. **

**If you want to check out my profile, I've put up some info on how long I expect this fic to be and stuff and also, you can follow me on tumblr, the url is on my profile page!**

**-dramionedarling.**


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